Banquet

Celebrating another CC season! We value each runner who participates, so we strive to recognize each one with words of affirmation and appreciation for their unique part of the team. It may take a while to acknowledge them all, but it brings near-perfect attendance at banquets. :) Thanks to everyone who helped make this a great night--we have the best banquet team, and we appreciate all of your work and creativity. Thanks to our captains for serving the team and to the coaches for investing so much in these student-athletes. Congratulations to those who earned volunteer service awards, varsity letters, athlete of the meet, and other fun awards. And we sure will miss you, seniors! Thanks also to all who supported us this season in various ways.

Conference

Congratulations to the Nighthawks in their first-ever Conference race! The Twin Cities Athletic Conference (TCAC) is comprised mainly of small private, charter, and other non-traditional schools. We were so thankful to have been welcomed into the group this season and enjoyed being in the mix of competition--plus it was an incredibly beautiful day for the event at St. Catherine University in St. Paul.

The girls took home the Runner-Up plaque (team hardware is a Nighthawk first!), and the boys took 3rd with a record combined team time. Congratulations to our 4 girls and 4 boys who earned All-Conference honors by finishing in the top 15: Erika Swanson (2nd place), Margaret Myskowski (6th), Marielle Chamberlain (8th), and Erin McGowan (11th); Luke Swanson (5th place), Phillip Kippley (12th), Grant Olson (14th), and Drake Fraser (15th); and to all who set season and lifetime PR's today. Go Nighthawks!

Team Academic Awards - 2016 CC

Congratulations to our varsity cross country Nighthawks for earning team academic excellence awards from the coaches' association!

One More

Another nice article in the local paper, this one covering Nighthawks Erika Swanson and Jerilynn Simmer's trip to the 2016 State CC meet. You can also find it online.

2016 Nighthawk Cross Country Banquet

That's a wrap! The End-of-Season Banquet is a sweet time of celebration for a season well done. Many thanks to the team-moms who made it all so beautiful. This is a family event (130 in attendance, wow) designed to recognize, encourage, and honor each athlete's unique character and contribution to the team. Thanks to all runners for giving us your hearts for a season and to all of the parents, grandparents, and siblings who supported us each step of the way. And best wishes to our seniors--we will miss you!

State CC 2016

(click to view larger)

Congratulations to Erika Swanson and Jerilynn Simmer for running at the Class A State Cross Country Championship this weekend, and thanks to the throngs of Nighthawks (teammates, families, and friends--dozens of them!) who drove down on a beautiful day to support and cheer them on! Erika, a sophomore, earned All State honors by taking 18th place (19:36) in her second State meet appearance; Jerilynn, a 9th-grader, took 75th (20:36) in her first trip to the event, out of 176 runners who qualified at their respective Sections statewide.

We coaches can try to describe the scene to our athletes before the event, but the level and depth of competition here is something that cannot be taught--only experienced. Coaching these young women--and all their teammates--is an awesome privilege. When we started the program, State was a very big "someday." We had no idea. These two earned this special weekend through their dedication, discipline, and coachability; and they were excellent ambassadors as they represented their team.

Thanks again to all the team families and sponsors who have supported the program at all levels and steps along the way. Every season is a gift.

Article

Nice article in this week's paper--lots of Nighthawks mentioned for a great Section meet!

Academic Awards

Congratulations to the Nighthawk girls' varsity track & field team for receiving gold-level Team Academic Excellence Recognition from the MN State High School Coaches' Association! Also to Erika S. for earning Academic All-State by meeting state honor roll time standards in the 1600m and 3200m. You can time performances on the track and calculate GPA's; but you can't measure the determination, courage, kindness, and loyalty these young women have shown this year. Well done.

Celebration

Each individual involved in this team was exactly who our inaugural track & field season needed, and each athlete was invited to the front to be recognized at our end-of-season banquet. The goal is not only to reward performance character strengths but also to highlight moral character strengths—the actions and instances of growth that lead to better relationships with others. Lots of food, fun, and hugs; memories shared, awards given, and senior batons signed. Thanks again to all the families who committed their time to each other this season!

Academic Excellence: Gold

Exciting news: We just received official word that the Nighthawk Cross Country​ Varsity Girls' and Boys' teams both earned Team Academic Excellence Recognition through the Minnesota State High School Coaches' Association! Both teams were awarded Gold Level status, based on cumulative GPA's going into the 2015 season. Congratulations to our student-athletes!

End-of-Season Awards Banquet 2015

A sweet ending to a great season. We had over 100 in attendance--everyone brought their families, which is so representative of our team and the support these kids have. Amazingly there was plenty of food (one of our team-girls made the Nighthawk cakes!), and cleanup was quick with all hands on deck.

The program takes a while, with words of encouragement spoken over each athlete, one at a time, as Participation and Dedication awards are presented. Additional awards include Presidential Volunteer Service, Athlete of the Meet (given for any number of reasons and one of our favorites), Most Improved, MVP, Captains, and Seniors. And now being a Varsity program, we had the exciting privilege of awarding our very first Varsity Letters (pictured, minus a couple boys).

So cool to have all these "firsts." Love this crew. Go Nighthawks!